In a recent post I rather clumsily referred to “Marlin/Remington” as a conjoined entity, but an astute reader noticed my grammatical faux pas in using the plural verb ‘are’ instead of the singular ‘is.’ This single comment has triggered a grammatical and taxonomical conundrum: now that Remington and Marlin and Bushmaster and H&R (to name but a few) have lost their individual traditions and identity and been blended into the giant gunmaker daiquiri that calls itself The Freedom Group, what should they or it be called?
Continuing to call them by their original corporate names of Remington or Marlin just doesn’t fly, since most of their original factories have been mothballed and most of their skilled employees pink-slipped.
Calling them collectively “The Freedom Group” makes me throw up in my mouth a little bit, since that corporate moniker has about as much soul and character as the name “Multinational Incorporated” or “Consolidated Holdings, Ltd.” They could even have called themselves “Guns, Inc.” and it would sound pretty cool, but naming themselves “The Freedom Group”? Not so much.
What do you, our Armed Intelligentsia, propose? Marlington? Remlin? The Ballistic Borg?
In the absence of a formal TTAG Style Manual (perish the thought), I’m leaning towards “Bushington and Marlington” since the new paymasters have managed to produce so many defects and recalls in a single factory.
[Note: RF has yet to hear from Marlington about the inadvertent folding stock 1894C]